I am currently working on the building interface for a mud written in ColdC. The majority of my building experience in the past has been on LP muds (though about 6 or 7 years ago I did work a bit with the SMAUG building interface). For those who might not be familiar with it, ColdC is similar to LPC in that it allows not just the building but also the general programming of the game to take place from within the game. Like LPC, in ColdC building can be essentially identical to programming with the only exception being the type of objects that are programmed.

While this approach gives the builders a very powerful set of tools with which to create a virtual world, it can also be daunting to non-coders (this despite the fact that in both LPC and ColdC it is possible to write interesting, highly functional objects with little more skill than would probably be needed to make good use of DG scripts and mobprogs).

For this reason, I am putting together a building interface that will allow most virtual world object creation to take place through a series of commands and prompts. What I am interested in, then, is what it is that builders consider to be beneficial and not so beneficial in building interfaces. My goal is to provide a set of tools for builders that will allow them to focus primarily on the creative side of building without having to slog through a long sequence of cumbersome or non-intuitive commands.

What I am interested in, then, is what it is that builders consider to be beneficial and not so beneficial in building interfaces. My goal is to provide a set of tools for builders that will allow them to focus primarily on the creative side of building without having to slog through a long sequence of cumbersome or non-intuitive commands.

(my italics)

That is my number one gripe with nearly every CL and menu-based building system out there. After dealing with OLC systems really I want to just go back to off-line building where people have at least provided decent applications to build with. Some people appear to have created nice web-based tools also. Or hell, just give me a text editor.

However none of those approaches will probably suit you, as you mentioned one of the strengths of your codebase is that you can update on the fly directly in the game. I'll use the term OLC though probably it will be quite different from, say, ROM OLC, correct? In that case I am not so concerned with whether you choose menu-based, command-line, a full-on object editor (actually that would be quite nice, a full-featured editor that would take a typical LPC line editor one step further), or some hybridization of the above. What makes an OLC system powerful are not the individual commands per se but the tools that the coder provides to make the builder's life easier.

For example, a copy command. Then an object index to drill down on most likely templates to copy. So you want to create a low-level bandit. You search the index, 'search thief 1 10' (levels 1 to 10), the index replies:

[192] Swarthy bandit
[822] Highwayman

So you 'copy mob 822 to new', or maybe you just make an alias 'mc 822' and you get a new mob with the stats of 822, at which point you enter your editor.

Perhaps there are general templates as well, not actual mobs or items in the game, but pre-generated templates that set up the object very quickly.

You certainly want to create a build walk mode too, where your builder turns on build walk, moves around, and creates the zone (of course I'm talking about pretty traditional room structures, apologies if your mud is different). Maybe you could even let the builder do 'buildwalk forest' and they create general forest template rooms until they change the mode.

Anyway, as I said these are all commands and modes that aggregate your building commands so the builder can get through the grind of setting flags, stats, directions, as fast as possible. The actual meat of the task lies in the editing interface, and if you could create a full on editor, that would be great. More than likely you would still want a command line for quick changes as well.

One last thing about your goal, to let builders focus on the creative side. An admirable goal. I've looked for a cool mud with a great building environment for a long time and never found one. However, one caveat. The stat knob twiddling and script trigger fiddling are not the only sloggy tasks a builder has to deal with. I'm not saying these tasks can't be fun, they are, but to divide these tasks and the 'creative' tasks, I'm guessing you mean layout, description writing, the general design, is a false premise. Sometimes writing 300 descriptions is more akin to filing the enamel off your teeth than a creative pursuit. So I recommend tools that ease the 'creative' process as well. Whether these are auto-generated descriptions, templates, libraries, whatever makes this process easier will let your builders produce more zones faster and better.

Anyway enough nonsense, one other system you might want to look at that takes an atypical approach to game area creation is the latest Inform text adventure language, here's the link:

Using that language as a model, on the mud command line you could do something like "> The crossroads is to the west of the high road, east of the high road, south of the high road, and north of the high road" and that command would give you five rooms, the crossroads and four road rooms surrounding it. Of course you could make that command less verbose with something like, "> The crossroads is to the east,west,north,south of the high road". An alternative approach that might suit more code averse builders who would otherwise shy away from typical building systems.